ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Martin Slumbers has seen some dire forecasts in his nearly 10 years at the helm of the R&A.
The men’s Open at Royal Troon in 2016.
Just last month, again at Troon.
And now, the AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews, where cold, wet and windy conditions will be ever present for the women’s final major of the year – especially for Thursday’s opening round, which could see as much as 45 mph gusts in the morning and into the early afternoon.
“This is pretty high winds for us,” Slumbers said Wednesday. “I think this is at the top end [in terms of bad forecasts]. I think we’ll all be pleased to get through tomorrow.”
In an effort to keep the Old Course playable, particularly on the exposed greens around the turn, Slumbers said the R&A has significantly slowed down the greens with a higher mow height and a “bit of water” — and that’s with a rainy past few days. On Wednesday, greens were running at 9’7 on the stimp.
“I doubt if you’ll see them any faster than that for tomorrow, and then we’ll see what the weather is going to do on Friday, Saturday, Sunday,” Slumbers said. “We can speed them up quite quickly. These are great greens. We know how to speed them up.”
As for the tee sheet, Slumbers said the forecast was not the deciding factor in the decision to go to split tees and two distinct waves. Instead, with the Olympics pushing this championship back a couple weeks, there is less daylight to work with.
“And I’m pleased we’re doing it given what we’re going to face tomorrow,” Slumbers added.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda, No. 2 Lilia Vu and No. 3 Jin Young Ko are among the half of the top-10 players in the world who are going off late on Thursday. It’s not as much of advantage, however, as the other half, which includes No. 4 Amy Yang and No. 8 Rose Zhang, will only see Korda’s wave get a slight reprieve in the afternoon: 28-33 mph gusts.
It’s going to be hard for everybody.
“There is a risk that we’ll have delays in play tomorrow, but we’ll deal with that,” Slumbers said. “I think the best players in the world want a bit of a hard challenge. I just hope it doesn’t blow so hard that we can’t play.”